Create a garden fit for summer nights

Sunday

Jun 16, 2013 at 4:30 AM

Betty MontgomeryGarden Cameos

When planning your garden, have you thought about having some plants that can be enjoyed in the evening? Today our daylight hours are filled with work or other commitments. This leaves very little time to enjoy the garden. Planning a garden that can be enjoyed when the air is cooler and the winds are calmer and the night sounds are present might be just what you need. First of all, you need to provide a place to sit and enjoy the evening. This could be a deck or a patio or just a few chairs in the garden. If you have a deck or patio, you can add a couple of pots that have white- blooming plants to catch the light of the moon or plants that perfume the night air. If you have seating directly in the garden or your patio or deck overlooks your garden, you will have a plethora of choices.Silver or light-colored foliage plants by your steps or walk can help guide your way at night, especially if you have a few solar walkway lamps tucked into the bed of white flowers. If your planting area is shaded, consider planting caladium (White Christmas) to combine with other plants. The silvery-white foliage has a luminous component for an evening garden. If you are looking for something more permanent, you can try brunnera (Jack Frost), a hardy perennial that will return each year. If you have full sun, the white flowers of phlox, petunias or zinnias will do the trick.If you want to light up your garden, plant a row of different varieties of white hydrangeas to have as a background. Some exquisite varieties are Mme. Emile Monillere, White Swan, Sister Theresa or Blushing Bride, which are all mophead or French hydrangeas. If you are looking for a white lacecap, Laranth White is a good choice. These get to about 6 feet over time. Annabelle, an old favorite, is a great choice for a shorter bush, since it only grows to 4 feet tall. For a larger bush, oakleaf hydrangeas for the early months of summer are delightful. Snow Queen, Snowflake and Alice all have white blooms and grow to be between 6 and 12 feet, depending on the one you choose. Then for later summer, Limelight, PeeGee or Brussels Lace are good choices for white blooms. They also grow to between 6 and 12 feet in height in most gardens. This would give you the white you would want in the later days of summer.For that white border to go in front of the hydrangeas, consider plants such as astible (Bridal Veil), white shrub roses, coneflower (White Swan), Shasta daisy (Becky), white bleeding heart or phlox (David). Plus add a few Japanese anemone, Honorine Jobert or Whirl Wind, which can come along toward the end of the summer. You can also plant nicotiana, oriental lily (Casablanca), hosta plantaginea, which has a nice fragrant white flowers in August, or one of the variegated hostas. You can do a great deal with white flowers, and they are not only pretty but they serve a purpose. Wall of flowersWe have a patio out from our screened porch. I did not want to block our view with a railing, but I also wanted to mark the end of the patio because I did not want anyone stepping off the patio in the dark of night. I planted a row of oakleaf hydrangeas called Harmony. They have large white blooms that reflect light at night, making you aware of the end of the terrace. This oakleaf hydrangea makes a wonderful show in June and re-blooms periodically through the summer. Harmony does not get as tall as most oakleaf varieties. I also have added a pot of white petunias, which catch the light from the house or moon, making them show up at night. Petunias have a pleasant fragrance, and this adds to our enjoyment of the lovely blooms. Put it in a potIf you want a mixture of white flowers in a pot, you can put in angelonia and light-colored snap dragons for height, alyssum and begnoias as the filler, and petunias to spill over the side.Don't forget vinesThere are also vines you must not forget about — moonflower (Ipomoea alba), autumn clematis and jasmine (Cestrum nocturnum). I love my autumn clematis, how it spends the summer weaving its way just along the top of a group of shrubs and then in late summer it opens up and decorates the shrubs with dainty white flowers that bloom over a long period of time.There is a lot you can do with white flowers to make the evening garden more enjoyable.